Animal shipping box



Filed Aug. 2, 1937 2 SheetsSheet 1 I'Illll'll IIIIIII Aug. 8, 1939 I. c. ROBRAHN ANIMAL SHIPPING BOX Filed Aug. 2, 1937 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Aug. 8, 1939 ANIMAL SHIPPING BOX Ira C. Robrahn, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignor to American Box Board Company, Grand Rapids, Mich., a corporation of Michigan Application August 2,

5 Claims.

This invention relates to shipping boxes which are to be used for shipping live wild animals and birds. Although it may be used for various animals, it is particularly designed to ship live Wild pheasants which are exceedingly active and also subject to suffocation if not adequately supplied with fresh air.

An object of the invention is to provide a box of this nature which is made mainly from paper board stock and may be shipped folded or knocked-down and which may be readily set up or assembled and when so assembled is strong and rigid. 'It has a door of a type which may be handled so that birds cannot readily escape while being inserted or removed from the container. It is provided with ample ventilation and has means to prevent it being stacked against a surface so that ventilation will be shut off.

The invention and the object and purposes which have been stated as well as others not at this time enumerated, will appear from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the box of my invention, the closure door or gate for the entrance opening being moved to a partly open position.

Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the box showing the same in a car or truck body, which appears in section, and illustrating the insurance of space at least at the sides and bottom of the box for air supply to the animals therein.

Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the box.

Fig. 4 is a transverse section and perspective view thereof, and

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary longitudinal section looking toward the side of the box in which the entrance opening is made.

Like reference characters refer to like parts in the different figures of the drawings.

In the construction of the box, the bottom I, the vertical sides 2 and 3 and the top 4 are made from one integral section of paperboard stock which is longitudinally scored at the proper places so that the body of the box may be provided in rectangular form by bending at such scorings, and also providing a flap 5 to be turned up at one longitudinal edge of the bottom, inside the adjacent vertical side 2, said flap being adapted to be stapled or otherwise suitably permanently connected to the vertical side.

Sills 6 and l of wood are nailed or otherwise neath the completed box.

Such sills are attached 1937, Serial No. 156,895

so that the outer edge portions thereof project a short distance beyond the vertical sides of the box when it is assembled. It is contemplated that the sills may also extend beyond the planes of the vertical ends of the box for the purpose 5 hereafter described.

In one vertical side, the side 3 as shown, an elongated opening 8 is made by cutting away the stock. Said opening, preferably of rectangular form, has its bottom edge substantially flush with the upper side of the bottom I and its upper horizontal edge a distance below the upper edge of said side 3 in which it is made. A bar 9 of wood having a thickness preferably such that it extends from a side of the box the same distance 15 that the sill 1 projects outwardly therefrom is secured by nails or the like immediately above and in parallel relation to the upper edge of the opening 8. Said bar at its lower corner portion immediately adjacent the side 3 is longitudinally grooved or kerfed to make a groove Ill. The sill l is grooved in its upper edge, as at H, directly below and parallel to the groove ID. This provides a guideway in which the upper and lower edge portions of a rectangular door or gate l2 may longitudinally slide. The door or gate I2 of paperboard stock may be readily slid into place or removed, and when. in place and covering the opening 8, may be secured by means of nails or the like driven into the adjacent vertical members of the end frames which are about to be described.

The ends of the box are duplicates, each consisting of a rectangular open frame having upper and lower horizontal bars l3 with connecting vertical end bars l4 between. The frame at its inner side is covered with a sheet I 5 of paperboard material shown as nailed thereto. The size of the frame is such that it may be inserted, at each end into the body of the box within the sides, bottom and top, and nails driven through said sides, bottom and top into the frame members, which are of wood.

The ends within the open frames are provided with a plurality of openings It, the side 2 is likewise provided with a plurality of openings l6, shown as in two horizontal rows, and the side I5 with a row of horizontal openings I6 above bar 9.

This box structure may be made at the factory to by scoring the sheet of paperboard stock from which the body of the box is to be made and attaching the sills 6 and l and the bar 9 in place at the proper positions. Such sheet may be folded at the scored portions at the factory and the body 55 of the box be formed into shape and the flap at 5 stapled to the side 2. With such construction the box body may be collapsed into a fiat form so as to occupy relatively little space. The ends are made and are shipped without assembling and the door or gate I2 is likewise not assembled but placed flat upon the other parts of the box in shipment. When the box reaches the place where it is to be used it is necessary merely to shape the body into its regular rectangular form, insert the ends and nail them in place and then slide the door or gate between the upper bar 9 and the lower sill 1. Of course, the box could be shipped without the stapling of the flap 5 to the side 2, but this would require a stapling or other connection of the flap 5 in place when the destination was reached.

When the box is placed in a car or truck body, for example, upon the bottom I l of said body (Fig. 2) and is moved over as closely as possible to an adjacent vertical side [8, it is evident that there will be a space between the side l8 of the body and the adjacent side of the box. Likewise, at the opposite side of the box there will be a space between it and any other package, indicated at l9, which may be shipped at the same time. This insures that the openings IS in the sides of the box shall never be covered by other packages which are shipped, thereby insuring plenty of air entrance. Of course, other air will enter through the openings IS in the ends.

Such shipping box, while available for the shipment of many dilferent animals, is particularly useful in the handling and shipment of live pheasr" ants or other animals of a like rather delicate nature and which particularly must be assured an ample supply of air.

The box of this invention is very practical and useful, readily made and assembled and at a low cost of manufacture. The invention is defined in the appended claims and is to be considered comprehensive of all forms of structure coming within their scope.

I claim:

1. A shipping box comprising, a body having top, bottom and vertical sides and vertical ends,

one of said sides having an opening therethrough, sills secured longitudinally of said body at the side edges of said bottom, said sills projecting at their outer longitudinal edge portions beyond the sides of the body, a bar secured to the side of the body above said opening and in substantially parallel relation to the sill immediately below, the said bar and sill having grooves in their under and upper sides, respectively, and a closing member slidable in said grooves to cover or uncover said opening.

A construction having the elements in combination defined in claim 1, said sides of the body having air circulation openings therethrough.

3. A construction containing the elements in combination defined in claim 1, said ends of the body having air circulation openings therethrough, said side at which the closure is mounted having air circulation openings therethrough above the bar, and the opposite side having air circulation openings therethrough, as specified.

4. A box comprising a body member having a bottom, top and vertical sides, one of the sides having an entrance opening therein longitudinally thereof, the upper edge of said entrance opening being below the upper edge of said side, sills secured longitudinally of said body member at the underside of said bottom and at the outer edge portions thereof, the outer edge portions of said sills extending outwardly beyond the planes of said vertical sides, a bar attached to said vertical side extending longitudinally thereof at the upper edge of said opening, a movable closure for said opening between said bar and the sill immediately below it, said bottom, top and sides having a hinged connection at their connected edges whereby the body with the attached sills and bar may be collapsed to a substantially flat position, and rigid end members for the box adapted to be inserted in the open ends of said body member and secured in place, as specified.

5. A construction containing the elements in combination defined in claim 1, wherein said opening extends downwardly to the bottom of said side.

IRA C. ROBRAHN. 

